1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to disperse systems activatable via energy supply, and also to an environmentally friendly preparation having a low hazard potential and to processes for production thereof. The present invention likewise relates to the use as, for example, polymerisation initiator, hardener and crosslinker in the plastics industry, and also to a process for controlled reaction management.
2. Discussion of Background Information
Peroxides are used as polymerisation initiators in the plastics industry and also as hardeners and crosslinkers in many applications (Rompp Chemie Lexikon, 1991, p. 3297). Peroxides cleave at elevated temperature to form free radicals which start the polymerisation of C—C double bonds in acrylates, methacrylates, styrene, vinyltoluene, and also copolymerisations, for example between the maleic or fumaric acid double bond with styrene. Cobalt(II) salts act as accelerants and catalyse the disintegration. Organic peroxides contain one or more peroxide groups —O—O—. This bond is not stable, disintegrates exothermically and gives off 180-350 kJ/mol of heat, leading to an (adiabatic) temperature increase of 400° C.-800° C. As a result, the handling of peroxides is not without its risks. Owing to the substantial potential risk, the legislator has put storage and transport under restrictive controls. Details are discernible from the particular applicable regulations. DE 2 632 294 describes the synthesis of various benzopinacol silyl ethers and their use as polymerisation initiators. These compounds act like peroxides, but do not have the hazard potential of the latter. Their function as free-radical initiators is based on the homolytic cleavage of the extremely long tetraphenyl-substituted C—C single bond. In contradistinction to peroxides, the cleavage is endothermic and also, if no monomer is available as reaction partner, reversible. Benzopinacol silyl ethers are inconvenient to synthesise and hence costly. Benzopinacol itself can also be used as a free-radical initiator for the polymerisation of unsaturated polyester resins (Heinrich Wolfers et al. in “Die Makromolekulare Chemie”, 1979 180, 3, pp. 649-655). However, benzopinacol is very sparingly soluble in the systems to be polymerised, and sediments. Homogeneous materials of construction are accordingly difficult to obtain. This was hitherto a bar to industrial application.